What is the difference between booking and management?

Booking sells and manages performance dates; management works on the artist's long-term career: releases, image, social media and partnerships.

Is booking through an agency more expensive?

Not for the promoter: the agency's commission sits inside the artist's fee, and in exchange you get a contract, a rider, a guaranteed replacement and a single point of contact.

What does the agency need to confirm a date?

Date, city, type of event, capacity, planned timings, venue equipment and an indicative budget.

What a DJ booking agency does and when it pays to book through one

A DJ booking agency represents a roster of artists and manages their bookings: availability, fee, contract, technical rider, logistics and event promotion. For a club, a festival or a brand, booking through the agency means dealing with a single point of contact and having guarantees if something goes wrong.

What exactly is artist booking?

Booking is the industry word for hiring performances. It covers everything from a promoter asking about a date to the artist walking off stage: fee negotiation, a contract with the terms, technical and hospitality rider, travel, hotel, soundcheck times and settlement. The booker is the person coordinating all of that on the artist's behalf.

At an agency like PLAYNOW, booking sits alongside management: beyond selling dates, we work on the artist's career (releases, image, social media, partnerships with clubs and brands). So when you programme one of our DJs you are not just buying a night: they arrive with promo material ready, active socials and an identity that helps sell tickets.

What does the agency do for the promoter?

One call. You ask about three names and one date and get availability and fees for all of them in the same email.
Proper contract and invoice. Cancellation terms, timings and ownership of recordings, all in writing.
A clear technical rider. Which mixer, which monitors, which CDJs. Sent beforehand, not discovered at soundcheck.
Guaranteed replacement. If the artist falls ill, the agency proposes another from the roster of the same level and style.
Coordinated promotion. Artwork, high-resolution photos, video and posts on the artist's channels with your event date.

How does the agency get paid and what is the commission?

The promoter pays the agreed fee, normally with a deposit on signing the contract and the balance before the performance. The agency's commission sits inside that fee: it is not an extra for the promoter but the share the artist sets aside for someone to manage their diary. In the Spanish market it typically ranges between 10% and 20% of the fee, and in full management formats it can be higher because it covers far more than selling dates.

The promoter does not pay for the agency: they pay for the date. The agency is what makes the date go well.
PLAYNOW

When does booking through an agency pay off?

Whenever the event has something to lose: a club with fixed residencies, a festival with several stages, a brand that needs the night to go exactly as promised in the sponsorship, or a large wedding with no second chance. In those cases the value lies in the guarantees and in the time you do not spend coordinating.

It also pays off when you want to programme by concept: an Afro house night with two or three names that fit together, an indie afternoon session or a format with live musicians. The agency knows the roster and proposes combinations that work, instead of you closing artists one by one.

What do we ask the promoter for?

Date, city, type of event and capacity. With that we can already propose names and a fee range.
Planned performance time and who else is playing that night.
Venue equipment: mixer, monitors and sound system.
An indicative budget. It saves back-and-forth and lets us adjust the format.

If you want to see who we work with, the full roster is sorted A to Z with video, bio and socials for every artist. And if you already have a date, write to us: availability is confirmed the same day.